The present invention relates to the field of computer graphics and more particularly to the field of reduced power digital video playback.
As the processing power and the data handling capacity of computer systems increases, a growing number of uses for computer systems include the playback of digital video. Typically, digital video playback involves four activities, (1) receiving compressed video data into the main memory of the computer system, (2) decompressing the compressed video data, (3) transferring the decompressed video data to a display memory, and (4) displaying the decompressed video data. These four activities occur repeatedly throughout the playback period, keeping most of the computer system continuously active. One problem with this high level of system activity is that power management utilities might be invoked, causing a noticeable effect on system performance, such as a xe2x80x9cjerkyxe2x80x9d picture. This problem can make certain applications of computer systems, such as the playback of a movie on a portable computer system, impractical. In response to this problem, a novel approach to displaying video in a computer system has been developed.
A method of displaying graphics in a computer system is disclosed. In one step, the first of a set of graphical descriptors is received. Each graphical descriptor corresponds to a graphical image. In another step, a subset of the set of graphical descriptors is selected based on an indicator. In another step, the graphical images corresponding to the subset of graphical descriptors are displayed.